


Children Will Save You

by flowerbritts



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Eddie Kaspbrak-centric, F/M, Fix-It, Foster kids, IT Chapter Two Fix-It, IT Chapter Two Spoilers, Kid Fic, M/M, Original Character(s), Reddie Exchange 2019, Rewrite
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:49:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22027621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowerbritts/pseuds/flowerbritts
Summary: Eddie didn't see everything clearly, it was like he was blinded. Now that Mike called, it was his way out. Of course, he's taking his boy with him.
Relationships: Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, Bill Denbrough/Mike Hanlon, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Patricia Blum Uris/Stanley Uris
Comments: 11
Kudos: 67





	Children Will Save You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [planetlostinspace](https://archiveofourown.org/users/planetlostinspace/gifts).

> For the Reddie Discord! I hope you enjoy it!  
This is the longest thing I've written!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to take a small break from this fic while I was in the hospital, I know that you guys enjoy it so I wanted to make it a little more compacted! Thank you so much for the kudos, y'all are what keep me going!

Eddie didn’t hate his life, but he sure did hate phone calls with his wife.

“Eddie, I keep telling you not to scare me like this! And you never listen to me!” 

Eddie shook his head at her tone, going into a small compartment for his pills. “Myra, please, not now!” 

“You both shouldn’t be out there! Eddie, it’s not safe to drive when the roads are slick like this.” 

“Sweetheart, it stopped raining like three hours ago, alright everything’s going to be fine- HEY DICKHEAD, FLOCK OF TRAFFIC MEAN ANYTHING TO YOU” He heard a small giggle from the backseat. He shook his head, looking in the mirror to make eye contact with the boy.

“What if you hydroplane?” Myra asked. 

Eddie’s eyes turned back to the road as he rolled up his window. “I’m not gonna hydroplane! It is my job to assess risks, so please trust me when I tell you, that statistically speaking, I’m much more likely to get in an accident because I’m talking to you on the phone! Alright, I have to go, I’ll talk to you soon, goodbye.” He ended the call.

“Jeez, you ripped mom a new one!” His boy giggled again as Eddie’s phone rang once more. 

Eddie shushed the boy then answered the call, “Edward Kaspbrak speaking,” 

“You didn’t say “Okay, bye, I love you” like you usually do!” 

“Listen, I can’t, Freddie is late for practice, I have a-” His phone rang once more, the call waiting I.D saying it was from Derry, Maine. He continued, “Meeting to get to.” 

“Say ''I love you” Eddie,” Myra demanded. 

“Okay, I love you mommy” Eddie spoke absently. 

“What?”

“Myra! Bye!” He shook his head, ending the call to answer the other. “Hello? Who’s this?” 

“It’s me, it’s Mike,” 

“Mike who?” Eddie took his eyes off the road, focusing more on the call. 

_ Mike Hanlon? _

His palms started to become sweaty and his breathing began to speed up. The next thing, he hears a small yelp and the car comes to a stop. 

“Eddie? You okay?” Mike questions in worry. 

“Yeah! I’m pretty good!” he turns around in his seat to see Freddie looking scared but unharmed. 

“You can call me back after you’re done dealing with your accident?” Mike spoke slowly, his tone sounding hopeful. Eddie nods to himself, seeing police cars and ambulances already starting to surround them. 

“Yes, of course, I’ll call you back,” Eddie says. He scratches his head as a picture of a dark-skinned boy crawling towards him in dirty water starts to form in his memory. He shakes his head, trying to get away from it. 

“Okay, I’ll talk to you later then,” Mike chirped.

“Bye Mike,”

“Bye Eds!” Mike ended the call. Eddie furrowed his brows as another picture started to form, a boy with glasses that made his eyes look bigger than they were. 

_ Richie? _

He shook his head once more, seeing a police officer start to come over. 

“Are you going to be arrested?” Freddie asks, his eyes wide. 

“No Freddie, I’m not getting arrested.” 

After getting checked out by paramedics, having the car towed, making contact with the insurance company, and Eddie’s client. The father and son got in a cab on Broadway to get home. 

“Sorry about today Fred,” Eddie spoke, looking over to see his son staring out the window. 

Freddie shrugs before looking over to his father, “Mom was making me quit anyway. Shouldn’t you be calling that guy back?” 

“Yes! Thank you for reminding me,” Eddie felt each pocket to find his phone, finding it in the right pocket of his suit pants. 

“How do you know this Mike guy anyway?” Freddie wondered, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“Uh, we were friends when we were kids,” Eddie unlocked the phone, going to recent callers, ignoring the 10 unanswered texts from Myra. 

“And you didn’t remember him until just now?” Freddie smirked.

Eddie shushed him as the phone started to ring. Freddie let out a giggle before turning back to look out the window once more. 

The call was then picked up, Eddie smiled as he spoke, “Mike Hanlon.” 

“Eddie! Everything okay?” he asks. 

“Yeah, we’re all good man. So what’s up? We haven’t spoken since we were kids,” 

“I know, I’m sorry, but I need your help with something,” Mike’s somewhat happy tone was replaced with something else, but Eddie couldn’t place it.

“Yeah, of course, man, anything,” Eddie responded immediately. 

“You need to come back to Derry, Eddie, please,” 

“Okay,” Eddie found himself agreeing as a flood of memory overtook his mind. 

_ “They’re gazebos! They’re bullshit!” _

Eddie gritted his teeth as the memory of his mother wormed its way forward. The scowl and the glare reminding him of someone. Myra. Jesus Christ, he married his mother. 

“Great!” Mike’s voice pulled him back into reality, “I’ll send you every detail on where we’re meeting up and where you can stay! Man, thank you so much, Eddie, I can’t wait to see you after so long!” 

“Yeah man, don’t mention it, looking forward to seeing you too,” Eddie found himself smiling. 

“Okay! I’ll see you soon, bye Eds,” 

“Bye Mike.” Mike ended the call. 

Eddie’s head started to hurt as it was flooded with images and voices. One of these voices was his mother, saying how weak and fragile he was. He’s heard the same thing come from Myra, several times, about himself and Freddie. Why would he marry someone just like his mother when he loathed the way she treated him? Why did Myra treat Freddie just as his mother treated him? They never even met. 

Another voice that pulled at him was Richie’s, asking about birth control pills. How could he forget about knowing Richie? Sure, Eddie had watched Richie’s comedy specials thinking that he was familiar but Eddie never imagined that he ever said that he was saving birth control pills for Richie’s sister. Were Richie and him close? Were they happy together?

Eddie turned to his son as he put his phone away, “I’m leaving your mother.”

“Really?” Freddie looked over at Eddie with wide eyes. Eddie furrowed his brows in confusion because the boy didn’t seem to be upset. 

“You’re not sad about this?” Eddie questioned. Freddie shook his head, some of the curls of his hair falling into his eyes. Eddie gave him a look to explain himself. Freddie let out a small scoff before turning his body more towards his father. He laced his fingers and crossed his legs. 

“Dad, don’t take this the wrong way but I’ve been waiting for you and mom to divorce since I was five. You’ve been the one to raise me, mom just kind of shows me off and tries to make me her “little boy”, but I’m 11 now, I know what being used is like,” he put a hand through his dark brown hair, trying to put the curls back into place. 

Eddie frowned, “I’m sorry Freddie, I guess I was blinded.” 

Freddie shook his head, “It’s okay dad.” The car stops, making both of the Kaspbrak men look outside, seeing as they were home, Eddie pulls out his wallet. He hands the money over to the driver and mutters a thank you before they get out. The cab drives off as they both stare up at the apartment building. “I’m coming with you right?” 

Eddie slugged an arm around his son’s shoulders, “Of course! As soon as we get in, you go to your room and get anything that has emotional value, your necessities. There’s a suitcase in your closet for you to pack.” Freddie nodded in understanding as they walked into the building. 

The two-bedroom apartment was on the third floor. Eddie and Freddie never minded the walk up but Myra was always persistent about how they would fall or have breathing troubles.

“What’s going to happen once we make it out?” Freddie questioned, after a minute of silence while walking up the stairs.

“We’re going to Maine!” Eddie told him. Freddie raised an eyebrow, in some way asking for an explanation, but Eddie couldn't give him one. 

When they reach the third floor, Eddie quickly moves to the door, unlocking and opening it. He looks around to find that Myra isn’t in her usual spot on the couch. He motions for Freddie to go inside. Freddie does so, moving as quickly and quietly as possible down the hallway to his room. Eddie doesn’t bother shutting the door, he moves inside slower, taking in his surroundings. He doesn’t hear anything coming from the kitchen or the bathroom. He then proceeds down the hall to his room, ignoring Myra's things, he packs his two suitcases with speed before he sits his remaining clothes on the bed to change into. Once out of the suit and into his "every day", he brings the suitcases out to the living room. 

Freddie is already sitting on the couch with headphones on, looking at an iPod, his suitcase by his feet. He looks up as Eddie moves his things more towards the door. He moves the headphones around his neck. Eddie takes out his phone, going online to rent a car. 

“I already emailed your boss saying you need these next few days off.” Freddie smiled, waving his iPod. “And he already gave them to you!” Eddie scrunched his brows. 

“How did you manage to do that?” Eddie questioned, moving to sit next to his son on the couch. 

“I used mom’s email to tell him that we got into a car accident and that you are transporting me to my special doctor in Maine. It also helps that your boss is scared of mom,” Freddie explained, moving to pocket the iPod. 

“Lying isn’t okay Fred,” Eddie clarified, shaking his head. 

“I technically didn’t lie! We did get into a car accident and we are going to Maine!” Freddie disputed. Eddie gave him a look before turning back to his phone. Freddie continued,” I’m sorry dad, I just wanted to make it easier for you.” 

“I know you did Fred, and I appreciate it. You’re too smart for your own good, I don’t want you to get into trouble with that kind of mindset. Promise me, you’ll never do it again,” Eddie looked up from his phone once more to get eye contact with the boy. Freddie’s eyes were the same dark brown as his own. 

“I promise unless it’s a dire circumstance,” Freddie smirked.

Eddie smiled, “You’re reminding me of someone.” He stands up before pocketing his phone.

“Really? Who? I hope it’s not your mom or something like that,” Freddie picks up his suitcase from the floor, moving with his father towards the door. 

“An old friend of mine.” Eddie lets out a laugh and stops, getting a hold of both of his suitcases to move them outside. 

Freddie gives a teasing grin, “It’s not that Mike guy is it?” Eddie shakes his head. 

“_ Eddie, Freddie, _ what do you think you’re doing,” 

The Kaspbrak men turn to see Myra step out of the elevator. Eddie lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He turns to Freddie who seems to be frozen in place. 

“Fred?” He gets the boy’s attention by putting a hand on his head. “Why don’t you go downstairs and wait for me?” Freddie barely nods before he’s dropping his suitcase and making a run for the stairs. When he’s through the door, Eddie turns to see Myra closing the distance between them. 

“_ Eddie_, what’s going on, you’re scaring me,” she crosses her arms. 

“I’m leaving you Myra, and I’m taking Freddie with me,” Eddie speaks quietly, waiting for the crying to start. It doesn’t come. 

“You can’t leave me! What will you do without me? The two of you could never survive on your own because of how fragile you are! We can work this out _ Eddie_, we can get help!” Myra picks up one of Eddie’s hands, holding it tightly. “You can get help, _ Eddie! _”

That was something his mother used to do, hold him tightly as if she let go, he would fall apart. His friends never did that. Richie never did that.

“I don’t need help, Myra.” He took his hand back, Myra looked as if she had just been slapped. “I’m sorry, I’ve realized that what we have is fake too late. I was with you because you reminded me of someone. Freddie and I don’t deserve that, and you don’t deserve that. It’s for the best we separate.” Eddie keeps his voice level, he moves to get all three suitcases and moves towards the elevator. He pushes the button to go down and the doors open, he steps in. 

“You’ve just always lied to me! You love someone else! What’s her name, Eddie?” Myra’s voice follows him. 

He shrugs, “His name is Richie.”

Once he gets to the lobby, his son is waiting for him right by the elevator doors, Freddie grabs his suitcase before moving towards the front door to go outside. 

“So, how’d it go?” Freddie asks, holding the door open for his father. 

“She took it better than I expected,” Eddie laughs as he gets both suitcases to the sidewalk. 

After getting a cab to the rental company and picking up the car, the Kaspbrak men were on the way to Derry, Maine. Freddie got bored of listening to his music so he turned to his father about 3 hours after the trip started. 

“You’re seriously not going to tell me why we’re going to Maine?” Freddie questioned, leaning on the arm-rest. 

“It’s my hometown,” Eddie shrugs. 

Freddie scoffs, “Dad, that doesn’t answer my question.”

“Okay, fine. Man, I don’t know why we’re going to Maine either! Mike asked me for help! We were really good friends as kids, so I said yes.” 

Freddie hums, “He could be a murderer for all you know.” 

Eddie raises an eyebrow, “You’re 11, you don’t get to think like that. Okay, I choose to see the best in people Freddie,” 

“Yep. Got it,” Freddie nods along, “Until they murder you,” he murmurs, taking out his iPod to play a game. 

“Freddie!” Eddie wheezed. Freddie laughs in return. Eddie rolls his eyes before speaking once more, “we won’t have time to stop at the inn, we’re going to go straight to the restaurant.” 

Freddie nodded in acknowledgment, now being enthralled by candy crush. Eddie rolled his eyes once more before turning back to the road. He couldn't wait to see what Mike looked like as an adult, such a weird thought. He wondered if Mike stayed in touch with Richie and if they were good friends. If Richie ever thought about Eddie. If Richie ever felt the same way.   
  


* * *

It was dark when Eddie pulled up to the Jade Of The Orient Restaurant. He and Freddie had been driving for 6 hours straight. As soon as Eddie parks, Freddie is throwing off his seatbelt and getting out of the car to run through the parking lot. Eddie shakes his head as he gets out. He shuts both his and Freddie’s doors before locking the car. 

“C’mon Fred!” he calls out, by the time he’s reached the front doors, his son is right behind him. They step inside, Freddie holds onto his father’s arm as a hostess makes their way over. “Hey, I’m with a party, should be under Hanlon?” 

She smiled politely, “Of course, right this way.” 

“We also have some allergies,” Freddie spoke up, reminding his father. 

“I can let the chef know,”

“We’re allergic to soy, anything with eggs in it, uh, gluten, and if we eat cashews, we could realistically die,” Eddie stopped speaking as he laid eyes on two men. He heard the hostess’ heels clicking away and Freddie elbowed him, “Holy shit.” Freddie let out a giggle at his father’s expression before looking over at the two men to study them. 

He let go of his father’s arm, “You’re friends with William Denbrough?” 

“You have a kid?” both men ask at once. Eddie nods to both with a raised brow as if they were trick questions. 

“Man! Eddie, it’s so good to see you!” Mike quickly walks over to envelop Eddie in a hug. 

“Good to see you too Mike.” Eddie smiles once they separate. 

Mike then leans down to Freddie’s height, he looks at him in awe, “You look just like your dad did when we were kids! I’m Mikey, what do I call you?” 

Freddie smiles brightly, “Fred or Freddie is fine!” 

“Well, it’s very nice to meet you, Fred,” Mike raises his arms out to hug the boy. Eddie watches as Freddie accepts it. 

“It’s nice to meet you too!” Freddie falls back to his father’s side as Mike stands back up. 

Bill moves closer after a moment, Eddie smiles shyly at him. “It’s really good to see you, Bill. Congratulations on all of the success of your books!” 

“Thanks, man! Maybe I can sign one for this guy right here,” Bill ruffles Freddie’s hair, and Freddie doesn’t bat him away like he usually does with strangers. 

“No I’m good, the endings aren’t that great,” Freddie mutters, though everyone hears him. Eddie lets out a small laugh while Freddie gives an apologetic look to Bill. Bill laughs it off, ruffling Freddie’s hair once more. Freddie never usually accepted new people like this, maybe it’s because Myra isn’t here to talk to him about his behavior. These are Eddie’s friends, after all, maybe it's about comfort.

“I like your endings, Bill!” Mike tells him with a smile. 

“Why? Their shit,” a fifth voice adds in deadpan. The group turns to see a man walking towards them. He stops about a foot away to take them in. He moves the curls away from his eyes before moving to his shirt pocket to put on glasses. “You all look the same.”

“Stan! You got taller!” Mike says happily, quickly moving forward to seize him in a hug. Stan pats him on the back twice before Mike finally moves away from him. “I’m so happy you came!” 

Stan gives him a nervous look, “Well, once a loser.” 

Freddie snickered, “You are wearing a cardigan.” Eddie quickly placed a hand over his son’s mouth. Bill chuckled as Stan furrowed his brows. 

“Eddie? You brought your kid?” Stan asked, moving closer. 

“Kinda had to,” Eddie replied, moving his hand from Freddie’s face to his hair. The four older men almost made a circle around him. 

“Why’s that Ed-” Bill was cut off by a gong being hit. 

Mike jumped, while everyone else turned to see three new arrivals. Eddie’s mouth dropped open at the sight of Richie Tozier. Of course, he knew what Richie looked like, he watched his horribly written comedy specials. Up close it was so odd to see him when just earlier today, Eddie was thinking about him as a 13-year-old boy. A boy he once had feelings for and those feelings didn’t seem to go away. 

“This meeting of the losers club has officially begun!” Richie called out. 

“Woah! Look at these guys!” Eddie responds, looking at both Richie and Ben. He locks eyes with Richie when he mouths “Ben”, lifting his arms to mimic Ben’s weight when they were kids, before finally pointing at him. Ben then turns to look at Richie, who just smiles innocently. 

Everyone moves then to get seated, Freddie stares at Richie awestruck. “Dad! You didn’t tell me you were friends with Richie Tozier!” 

“Dad?” Bev and Richie voice at the same time. Ben looks at Freddie, studying him. 

“Bev, he looks just like Eddie did when we were kids!” Ben smiles before moving and getting another chair. The table is now sitting eight instead of seven. Ben sits down next to Mike, Stan sits down next to Richie, who had taken off his leather jacket to show off a yellow Hawaiin shirt. 

Stan points to the empty chair next to him, “Come on Mr. Smart-Aleck,” Freddie grins at him before sitting down, his father right next to him. 

“I’m sorry for the cardigan comment, but you’re the same age as my dad, not eighty,” Freddie grinned, lacing his fingers together and sitting them on his stomach. 

“I’m a year younger than your dad,” Stan corrected, smiling at the boy. 

“You have proven my point further,” Freddie giggles.

Eddie watches the exchange with a smile on his face. He looks down at his hands, seeing that he still has his wedding ring on, he quickly slips it off before moving it into his jacket’s pocket. He looks back up to see Richie staring at him. He goes to ask _what are you staring at jackass, _ but a waitress interrupts him to get their orders. Everyone gets some form of alcohol, except for Eddie, because he’s a good parent. After the waitress leaves the table, Eddie finds Richie now staring at Freddie. 

“So, kid, how old are you?” Richie questioned, leaning his elbows on the table. He puts a hand under his chin, propping his head up. 

“Eleven! How old are you?” Freddie asks, copying Richie’s actions. Richie furrows his eyebrows. 

Eddie lets out a laugh, “Fred.” 

Freddie turns, dropping his hands, “What? You only said you don’t ask ladies their age!” 

Bev cut in, “Which is right! You need to apologize to Richie!” 

Everyone let out laughs while Richie pouted, “Fucking rude Marsh,” he huffed. He quickly then realized what he did and covered his mouth. He shook his head before letting his hands fall, he turned to Eddie looking guilty, “Sorry man,” 

Eddie smiles at him, “It’s okay, Freddie knows his cuss words. Do any of you guys have kids?” Everyone shook their heads or muttered a no while Stan let out a long breath. Eddie furrowed his brows, “Stanley?” he prompted. 

Stan crossed his arms, “Oh, me and my wife, uh, Patty, we’ve been wanting to have a kid for a while but-” he cut himself off and shrugged. Eddie nodded in understanding. 

“Well, shit,” Bill speaks, earning a glare from Ben. 

“You can have Freddie if you want, though he’s not exactly cheap,” Eddie joked, this earned a light hit to his right shoulder from his son. He laughed before grabbing Freddie in a hug.

Stan grinned, “No, I’ll just be uncle Stan.” Freddie smiled at Stan before turning to Eddie as if saying ‘yes’.

Eddie nodded once more before the table was interrupted again by the waitress bringing out the meals and drinks. After everything was set out and everyone got their food, all seven members of the losers club clinked their glasses together in cheers. Everyone now seemed chipper. Eddie watched as Richie did a shot without his hands, dropping the small glass onto his plate. He stared at Eddie with a large smile. Eddie knew there was a joke coming. 

“So, Eddie, you ever been married?” Richie asked, a laugh in his throat. 

“Yeah, why is that so fucking funny dickwad?” Eddie responded defensively. 

“What, to like a woman?” Richie deadpanned, trying to keep the smile off his face. 

“Fuck you, bro,” Eddie frowned, pointing a chopstick at him. 

Richie laughed, “Fuck you!” 

“Alright, what about you Trashmouth? You married?” Bill asked, motioning to him. 

Bev shook her head, “There’s no way that Richie got married!” 

“Nope, Richie couldn’t have,” Stan muttered, finally taking off his glasses. 

“No! I got married!” Richie assured, nodding. 

“Richie, I don’t believe it,” Bev continued to shake her head, not bothering to look over at him. 

“When?” Eddie asked, leaning forward. He held onto his drink. Freddie put a hand over his forehead. 

Richie looked over at Eddie. “You didn’t hear this?” Richie asked, as if in disbelief. 

“No,” Eddie replied, his eyes widening. 

“You didn’t know I got married?” Richie pretended to look upset. 

“No!” Eddie repeated, staring at Richie.

Richie responded, “Yeah! Me and your mom are very very happy right now!” Everyone began laughing except for Eddie. 

Bill spit out his drink, “Fucking hell!” 

Richie started laughing as Eddie looked away from him in annoyance, “He totally fell for it!” 

“Fuck you!” Eddie frowned once more. 

“You did fall for it,” Freddie mumbled, receiving a disappointed look from Eddie. 

“She’s very sweet! Sometimes she’ll put her arm around me and she’ll whisper to me, she’ll go _bi-so-go-pa-ta mesa Wookie _” he cut himself off laughing, joining everyone else. 

Eddie put his drink down, “We all get it! My mom was a great big fat person! Hilarious! Hysterical!” He turned to see Ben shaking his head and covering his mouth. Bev shushed Bill. 

Freddie then turned to ask Richie, “Does that mean your my grandfather?” Richie stopped laughing, his face suddenly dropped. Making Eddie let out a hearty laugh. 

After everyone sobered up, Richie pulled everyone’s focus once more, “Wait, let’s talk about the elephant, not in the room! Ben! What the fuck man?” Eddie looked from Richie to Ben, nodding in agreement. 

Ben shrugged, he held on to his drink as he spoke, “Okay! Obviously, I’ve lost a few pounds,”

“Lost a few pounds?” Bill scoffed.

“Yeah! No shit you lost a few pounds,” Eddie commented, staring at Ben. 

“You're like, you’re hot,” Richie remarked. 

“It’s true,” Eddie stated, looking his friend up and down. More laughter and acceptance came from the group while Freddie rolled his eyes. 

“You look like every Brazilian soccer player wrapped up into one person! Gorgeous!” Richie rambled, clasping his hands in front of his face. 

“Leave him alone! You’re embarrassing him!” Bev interjected, watching Ben with a smile on her face. 

“Okay! Okay! Please! Stanley, save me,” Ben pleaded, putting his drink down. 

Stan furrowed his brows, “Why would I save you?” 

Eddie’s head was then flooded with images of kid Ben, face and shirt bloody, it made him a little sick but he continued. 

“Yeah! Was I not the one who basically performed surgery on you? After Bowers cut you up! Holy shit, that’s right!” Eddie declared, hitting Ben’s shoulder.

“Cut you up? Jesus Christ, what were you guys doing in the 80s?” Freddie wondered, looking over at his father and Ben in worry. 

Eddie shook his head before rubbing his sons back.

Bev let out a small snort, before smiling at Eddie, “Please tell me you ended up being a doctor Eds.” 

Eddie shook his head, “No, I actually ended up becoming a risk analyst.” 

“Oh! That sounds really interesting! What does that entail?” Richie asks, pulling Eddie’s attention once more. Eddie stares as Richie uncrosses and recrosses his arms. 

Eddie wondered if Richie actually cared, so he looks away from Richie to speak, “Yeah! So I work for like, a big insurance firm, and I-” he’s cut off by the sound of snoring. He looks over to see Richie with his head knocked back. Mike starts cackling before Richie brings his head back down to smirk at Eddie. Everyone else then begins to laugh again while Stan rolled his eyes. 

“Fuck you dude. Fuck you!” Eddie huffed, not breaking eye contact with Richie. 

“Was this job created before fun?” Richie asked, making Bill snicker and Freddie nod.

“Oh, that’s so not funny!” Eddie argued, pointing at Richie with his glass in hand. 

“It is funny!” Richie giggled, shrugging. 

Eddie heard a small chuckle come from his left so he turned to Ben, offended, “What the fuck are you laughing at?” 

Bev then pulled everyone’s attention, raising her beer, “I propose a toast, to the losers and our newest member,” she smiled at Freddie. Everyone clinked glasses once more, now including Freddie. Once everyone put their glasses down, Bev grabbed Richie’s arm, they both leaned in as if they were going to kiss. Eddie furrowed his brows in confusion, remembering that Bill and Bev cuddled when they were kids. Eddie smiled once Bev put her chopsticks in Richie’s mouth, making Richie back up in surprise. Everyone let out yells and laughs as Stan just shook his head at their antics. After a while, the waitress came back with fortune cookies, clearing plates that were finished. 

“Oh, here we go!” Richie smiled grabbing one. Both Stan and Eddie said thank you to the waitress as they got one as well. Bill and Bev broke off to have their conversation. “So Eddie, the Missus? What’s her name? What’s she like?” Richie questioned, crossing his arms.

“Oh, there isn’t one,” Eddie replied, shrugging. Eddie noticed that everyone had gotten a fortune cookie, he looked down at his own and picked it up. 

He looked up once he heard Stan speaking, "So you're raising him alone?" Eddie nodded in confirmation before looking over at Richie. His eyes softened, he smiled at Eddie before looking at the table. He went to speak but Ben interjected everyone’s conversations. Eddie almost got whiplash because of how fast he turned his head to look at Ben. 

“I mean it’s weird, right? Now that we’re all here, everything just comes back faster and faster, I mean, all of it!” he finished, turning to look at Mike. 

“Uh, you know, when Mike called me I threw up. Ain’t that weird? Like I got nervous, I got, like sick, so I threw up,” Richie explained, looking around the table. Eddie winced at the sound of throwing up but tried to stay strong, he stared as Richie continued. “I feel fine now though, I feel very relieved to be here with you guys. Why is everybody looking at me like this?” He played with his fortune cookie in the palm of his hand.

“When Mike called me, I crashed my car,” Eddie said, looking over at Mike briefly. Freddie nodded, sitting back in his chair. 

“Seriously?” Bill asked. 

“Yeah!” The Kaspbrak men responded in sync. 

“Man I hear you, I mean my heart was literally pounding right out of my chest,” Ben affirmed. 

“I thought it was only me!” Bev whispered. 

Freddie looked over to see his Uncle Stan giving Mike a confused look. He then looked over to see Mike shake his head. 

“It was like pure hmph-hmph-hmph” Bill stuttered. 

“Fear,” Mike finished for him, turning to look him in the eye. “It’s fear, what you felt.”

“Why did we all f-feel like that?” Bill questioned. He stared at Mike as he continued, “You remember something we don’t. Don’t you Mike?” 

Mike breathed heavily before speaking, “Something happens to you when you leave this town. The farther away, the hazier it gets, but me, I never left. So yeah, I remember. I remember all of it.” 

Bev let out a low whisper, “Pennywise.” Stan flinched at the name. 

Freddie furrowed his brows as his father wheezed, “Oh, the fucking clown!” Eddie then went on a search of his body for his inhaler, which he didn’t have. Freddie patted his father’s shoulder, trying to calm him down. 

“Mike you said you wanted our help with something, what was that?” Bill asked, his voice unsteady. 

“There’s an echo here in Derry that bounces back every twenty-seven years,” Mike starts, pulling out a notebook. 

“What are you talking about?” Eddie asks, putting an arm around his son. 

“Hold on, listen,” Mike starts.

“No!” Eddie says quickly. 

“We thought we stopped it back then or we thought it was done but-” Mike breaks off to begin flipping through his notebook. 

“Miiiike,” Richie drawls.

“A week ago, a man, Adrian Mellon, slaughtered,” Mike tells, turning to Ben and Eddie. Stan moved to cover Freddie’s ears. Bill took Mike’s notebook to take a look at it. Mike continued, “A girl, Lisa Albright, the other night, went missing!”

“Dude,” Eddie tried to interrupt.

“Dad, what’s he talking about?” Freddie asked, moving away from Stan. 

“There have already been others and there will be more!” Mike informs them, tapping his first finger on the table.

Everyone started overlapping each other as they spoke until Ben cut everyone off, “Just let him explain, let him explain.”

Mike nodded thanks at Ben before speaking once more, “That echo, we might have changed it, just like it changed us, but we didn’t stop it. Because it just bounced back.” He took a moment to lock eyes with Ben before continuing, “We made an oath, alright, that’s why I brought you back. That’s why you’re here, to finish it. For good.” 

“Well, that shit got dark fast,” Richie spoke after a few seconds of silence. “Thanks, Mike.”

Eddie and Richie quickly locked eyes, Eddie only saw worry so he broke away to look down and break open his fortune cookie. He reads it before holding it up. 

“My fortune cookie just says ‘brave’,” he muttered. 

“They don’t know how to do fortune cookies here, mine just says ‘can’” Richie says, moving the slip of paper to show it off.

“You mind throwing that over here?” Bill asks, getting out of his seat. Richie slips it over. Bill takes another piece that Mike held out. Everyone puts in a piece of paper except for Bev. Eddie and Stan get up out of impatience, Stan putting his glasses on to help with the few words of the table. 

“Can it rescue him to brave?” Bill readout, Stan shook his head before taking over. Everyone continues to speak over each other while Stan stared at the words with his hands on his hips.

“It’s a message!” Mike said hurriedly. 

“What is going on right now?” Freddie asks, sitting on the edge of his seat. Every adult ignored him. 

“It can rescue him you brave to!” Richie guessed. 

Eddie turned to him in confusion, “You brave to?” Richie just shrugged in response. “When it says it, is it talking about IT? Is that what it means? It is IT,” Eddie speaks quickly. 

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Mike points. 

“Did you mess with the fortune cookies, man?” Richie questions.

“This is not me! This is what IT does!” Mike tells. 

“I need my fucking inhaler!” Eddie calls. 

“Dude, why did you call us?” Richie groans.

“Beverly?” Bill voices, making everyone quiet and turn to Bev, who stared at her slip of paper with wide eyes. She placed it down gently. 

Stan took it, putting it in place before he read out, “Can you brave it to rescue him, Eddie.” 

Freddie decided it was time to voice his concerns, “What the fuck does that mean?” Everyone turned to look at him.

“Why does it say my name?” Eddie questioned, looking at his group of friends. He continued to get more nervous as no one answered, “Someone fucking answer me!”

Everyone jumped back as the table moved by itself. The fortune cookies started rattling, one of them hopping out of the bowl, a small creature breaking out of it. 

“What the fuck is that, man?” Richie asks in exasperation. More fortune cookies landed on the table and broke apart. One, in particular, scaring Richie and Freddie. “Shit, hey! Hey! The fortune cookies looking at me!” He backed up, taking Freddie with him. Everyone else had backed into one of the four corners of the room. 

“I don’t want to be here! I can’t fucking do this!” Eddie wheezed, moving to cover his eyes. He felt Ben’s hand over his shoulder. The fortune cookie then started flying. “Holy shit!”

The eyeball moved closer to the edge of the table, Ben started swatting at the wing coming at them. Stan moved to squat down and cover his head to avoid the noise and creatures while Richie and Freddie hopped up on a brown dresser. Bev let out a small scream. Richie watched as he saw Eddie cover his face and turn away to avoid the wing. 

“Hey! Ed! Eddie!” he called. 

The table rattled again as black goo came out of the bowl and spread onto the surface of the table. Mike and Bill saw heads floating in the fish tank. Mike ran towards the table.

“It’s not real! It’s not real!” He picked up a chair before yelling, “It’s not real! It’s not real! It’s not real!” Mike continued to slam the chair against the table until the waitress came in.

“Is everything alright?” she asks, her eyes wide. 

Richie plasters on a fake smile, taking one of his arms from around the boy he was with, “Yeah! Can we get the check?” he makes a sign in the air, the waitress just turns and walks away. 

Stan got up from crouching on the floor, he put his glasses in his shirt pocket before crossing his arms. He made his way to Mike with an accusatory look on his face. Freddie and Richie got down from the dresser, Eddie ran towards his son before picking him up and holding him tightly, Freddie didn’t object, he just buried his nose into his father’s jacket. 

Bill and Ben pried Bev from the wall, both asked if she was alright before Bill made his way over to Mike as well. Richie got his leather jacket off the floor and put it on before shoving his hands in his pockets. The waitress came back, handing the bill to Mike, who handed it to Bill, breaking whatever argument he was having with Stan. Eddie put his boy down after a few minutes, looking to see if he was harmed. Freddie protested, trying to get away from his father. 

Richie finally interrupted the two after staring at them for a few moments, “Both of you are okay?” Eddie furrows his brows before nodding. The losers club then began walking out of the Jade Of The Orient Restaurant. Eddie and Freddie in the front while Richie was the caboose.

“That’s what Pennywise does, right? He fucks with us, so he’s calling me out because I’m the only one with a kid!” Eddie acknowledged, tightening his grasp on Freddie’s shoulder. He turns to see Bev nod her head in agreement. A child’s voice then stops them in their tracks, “Hey Richie!” They turn around to see a boy about Freddie’s age.

“How did you know my name?” Richie asks confused. 

The boy smiles before he says, “The funs just beginning! Right?” 

Richie furrows his brows and goes to speak but is cut off by Freddie, who was now at his side. “Wow, I’ve never met one of my godfather’s fans before!” 

“You’re Richie Tozier’s godson?” The boy asks in wonder. Freddie nods, making the boy’s eyes widen more. “Can I have a picture?” He asks Richie and Freddie. 

Richie nods before he’s kneeling, taking an iPod from the boy. After Richie snaps a picture of the three of them and hands the iPod back over to stand up, Eddie pulls on his arm to get closer to him. 

The boy smiles once more, “Thank you so much, Mr. Tozier! I’m Dean by the way,” he held out a fist to Freddie. 

Freddie bumped fists with Dean, grinning, “Freddie.”

“Well, hopefully, I’ll see you around! Thanks again Mr. Tozier!” he walked away to who the losers presumed were his parents. 

The losers then turned to finally walk out of the restaurant, Eddie and Richie walking with Freddie in between them. 

“Dude, did you not recognize words from your show?” Freddie asks, pulling at Richie’s jacket. 

Richie swatted him away before muttering, “I don’t write my own material!” 

Eddie whooped, “I knew it! I fucking knew it!” Freddie laughed quietly at his father and Richie’s glare, though he could tell there was no actual anger behind it. When they got into the parking lot, Stan, Richie, and Freddie stood together while Eddie paced. He stopped in front of Mike before speaking, “You lied to us! That’s not okay!” 

Richie ran a hand through his hair as he stepped closer to Mike, “Yeah, the first words out of your mouth should have been ‘hey man, wanna come to Derry and get murdered?’ ‘Cause then I would have said no!”

“I thought you already told everyone this was happening, that’s why we all agreed to come, to do it together!” Stan whimpered. 

“Guys!” Ben tried to interject. 

“I brought my kid to Derry, Mike. My kid!” Eddie fretted, crossing his arms. 

“After leaving Myra,” Stan muttered. Eddie snapped his head towards him to see he was cleaning his glasses. 

“How could you possibly know that?” Freddie questions Stan who shrugs helplessly. Freddie takes the car keys from his father, before almost running to the car and unlocking it. 

Mike frowns, “Guys, listen! We gotta stop him! I have a plan!” 

“I have a plan! Getting the hell out of dodge before this ends worse than one of Bill’s books! Who’s with me?” Richie asks, raising his hand. Eddie and Stan do as well. 

“We made a promise to each other!” Mike chided.

Richie shrugged, “Well then, let’s unmake the promise!”

“Richie, other people are gonna die!” Ben argues, walking closer to the four men. 

“Other people die every day, man! We don’t owe this town shit!” Richie bickered, holding his arms up. He started walking backward, “Plus I remembered I grew up in this town like two hours ago so I’m fucking leaving! Fuck this!” 

Eddie gave a small wave and went to turn, “Sorry man, I’m with Richie.”

“Eds please!” Mike cried, following him. 

“What? I stay, Freddie dies, I die, that’s it? We’re gonna go find a new home, okay? I’m sorry man! Good luck, ” Eddie turned around to see that he parked right next to Richie. 

“No! Eddie! Please! Please, Eddie! Eddie, wait!” Mike called.

Freddie and Richie were in the car speaking. Eddie got into the driver’s seat quickly, breaking their conversation. Richie was in the passenger and Freddie was in the back. 

“Why?” Eddie asks, turning to look at his friend. 

“I wanted to get to know my godson,” Richie shrugs.

Eddie rolls his eyes before putting the car into reverse and leaving the restaurant parking lot. At the next stoplight, he looks over to see the smile looming on Richie’s face. Why did we feel as if this was what he was missing?

* * *

Eddie, Richie, and Freddie sat in front of The Derry Inn, the car ride had been mostly silent until Richie informed Eddie that he had to get his stuff. Richie just hadn’t gotten out of the car yet. He looked in the rearview mirror to see that Freddie had headphones on, so he turned to speak to Eddie. 

“So, Myra, huh?” 

Eddie shook his head, “I can’t believe he told you! Did you bribe him or something?” 

“No, apparently kids love me.” Richie smiles. Eddie crosses his arms and turns to look out of his window in response. “Come on, Eddie! You can tell me anything,” Richie insisted, reaching out to get a hold of Eddie’s arm. 

Eddie turned back to see the sincere look in Richie’s eyes, so he let out a small breath before finally giving in, “She was just like my mom Rich. I could not sit by to see a kid, my kid, abused like that. The worst part is, until Mike’s call, I didn’t see it.” 

“You did the right thing! You’re protecting your kid, you’re leaving a bad situation,” Richie gently intoned, rubbing his friend’s shoulder. Eddie nodded in understanding. Richie continued, now wanting to get a smile from Eddie, “In fact, Jr back there, told me that he never wants to see his mom again and you’re the best dad ever.”

Eddie did smile, but only for a moment, “We have to go back to New York though. That’s where I work, where Freddie goes to school. We have nowhere else to go.” 

“Yes, you do! You and Freddie can come with me to L.A,” Richie decides, moving his hand from Eddie’s shoulder to the back of his neck. 

Eddie stared at Richie perplexed, “We can’t do that!” 

Richie shrugs, “Yes, you can! I’ll help you!” Eddie’s eyes widen before he’s smiling, dimples and all. Richie smiles back. “Come on!” 

Richie withdraws his arm from Eddie to unbuckle his seatbelt. Eddie frowns at the broken connection of contact before following Richie in getting out of the car. He opens the back door for Freddie, who stumbles out. After locking the car and beginning to walk across the street, two more cars arrive. When they get inside, Richie gets to the steps and goes up two at a time, Eddie and Freddie follow behind him, Freddie dragging his feet as he goes. When they get into Richie’s room, Freddie lays on the bed and covers his eyes, not bothering to take off his headphones. Eddie sits down on the edge of the bed by his son’s feet and watches as his friend stuffs clothes into a duffel bag hurriedly. 

“You know, you could fold!” Eddie informs him, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“I thought you wanted to leave!” Richie says, zipping the bag up. 

“I do! You could just be a little bit neat! You’re just as sloppy as you were when we were kids!” Eddie huffs.

“And you’re just as uptight!” Richie says, smirking. 

“For good reason Richard!” Eddie stands suddenly, stomping his foot like a child. 

“Great! We can continue this discussion the sooner we get the fuck out of Derry!” Richie concluded, throwing the bag over his shoulder. Eddie puts his hands on his hips as Richie exits the room. Eddie rolls his eyes before turning to look his son over. He gently taps Freddie’s foot but got no response. He leaned over the bed to remove Freddie’s arm from his eyes, seeing he was fast asleep, Eddie took off his son’s headphones and removed the iPod from inside his hoodie’s pocket before turning off the music. He rolled the headphones up before slipping them and the iPod into his jeans.

He then heard Richie call from downstairs, “Eduardo, Federico, ándale. Let’s go!”

He would have responded, _ shut the fuck up Ricardo_, but there was a sleeping child here. He rushed out of the room, moving to stand at the top of the steps. 

“Sorry Rich, Fred fell asleep, I’ll wake him and then we can-” he stopped speaking as he laid eyes on Ben, Bev, Stan, and Richie looking quite tense. “What’d I miss?” 

Richie let out a small cough, “Apparently, Stan knew about you leaving Myra because he saw it. Bev has also seen all of us die.”

Eddie’s eyes widen, he then drops his head as he stares at his feet, making his way down the stairs. He continues into the parlor, as he moves past Richie, he pulls on his wrist, making him follow. When they’re all in the parlor, Stan takes a seat with Bev while Eddie lets Richie go. Eddie then begins to pace as Ben walks over to the bar to make a drink. Richie puts his bag down in a nearby chair before he’s shoving his hands in his pockets. Eddie stops pacing after a few moments, walking over to Bev and Stan.

“Okay, so, what do you mean you have seen all of us die?” Eddie questions, putting his hands on his hips as if he was scolding her.

“Yeah, cause I’ve got to be honest, that’s a fucked up thing to just drop on somebody.” Richie chimed. 

Bev wiped away a tear as she turned to look at Stan. “Every night since Derry, I’ve had these nightmares, people in pain, people dying-” she cut herself off, sniffling. Ben walked around the bar to sit down.

“So you have nightmares, I have nightmares, I woke up in the middle of the night dealing with someone else’s nightmares, people, they all have nightmares, but that doesn’t mean your visions will come true!” Eddie spoke, looking to Ben for help. 

“I’ve watched every single one of us-” she lamented, shaking her head. Stan rubbed her shoulder. 

“Seen every single one of us what?” Everyone turned to see Mike and Bill come in. Bill sat down on the arm of the chair next to where Bev and Stan sat while Mike stood in the archway. 

Bev just shook her head so Stan spoke instead, “Getting hurt, dying. I guess my visions are different. I’ve only seen emotional pain.”

“Like Myra!” Richie added, trying to be helpful. 

“Could you stop bringing that up?” Eddie hissed, crossing his arms. 

Stan glared at Richie, before turning back to Bill, “Apparently I could have ended up in a bathtub.” Bev let out a small broken sob. Stan let out a muttered ‘sorry’ before wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

“How come the rest of us aren't seeing that shit? What makes them so different?” Richie asks, pointing at Stan and Bev. Bill gets up, walking over to Ben.

“The deadlights!” Mike tells, coming into the room more. 

“Deadlights,” Bill says in recognition. He continued, “you two were the only ones caught in the deadlights that day!” 

Bev moved to take out a cigarette. Mike walked into the center of the room, “We were all touched by IT. Changed. Deep down, like an infection or a virus!” He turned to Eddie as Ben got up, “A virus! You were scared!” Eddie got away from him, now standing in the archway with his hands on his hips. “That virus, it’s been growing for 27 years! 27 years! That whole time, metastasizing! He’s been messing with Stan because-” Stan got up from his seat next to Bev, not able to handle the cigarette smoke. Ben sits down next to Bev, watching her carefully.

“I’m the weakest,” Stan finishes for him, moving next to Richie. Richie nods in agreement. 

“Rich!” Eddie shook his head as if to reprimand him. Richie rolled his eyes at him before moving behind the bar.

“What Beverly sees will come to pass, it’s what will happen to all of us eventually! Unless we stop IT,” Mike informs them. 

“How the hell are we supposed to do that?” Eddie questions, beginning to pace again.

“The Ritual Of Chud! The Shakopee! The first ones that fought IT, they have a saying, ‘All living things must abide by the laws of the shape they inhabit’” Mike finished. 

“A tribal ritual? Are you fucking kidding me, man? Alright, there’s gotta be another way! Okay, this thing comes back, what, every 27 years? Just kick the can down the road and do it then!” Richie insisted. 

Eddie turned to him in question, “Wait, we’ll be 70 years old, asshole!” Richie gaped at him in response. 

“It doesn’t work that way!” Bev started, Bill sitting for a moment to wrap an arm around her. “None of us make it another 20 years, and the way it happens,” she trails off into a whisper. 

Richie pours himself a shot, drinking it before slamming the glass back down on the bar. 

Ben finally decides to speak, “So if we don’t beat IT, this cycle.”

“We die,” Bill finishes for him. 

“Horribly,” Eddie adds. 

“Yeah, I don’t need the horribly part!” Richie mentioned, staring at Eddie sorrowfully. 

“I didn’t say it! She said it! Not me!” Eddie recalled, pointing at Bev.

“Alright, guys, look, I’ve seen w-w-w-what he’s talking about and it’s all true. It’s the only way. If we want this ritual to work-” Mike cut Bill off. 

“We have to remember,” Mike nodded. 

“Remember what?” Richie asks. 

“It’s better if I show you. We’ll head out as soon as the sun rises,” Mike says, moving towards Bill. 

Eddie finally stopped pacing, Richie finally left from behind the bar and Stan finally took a seat, taking out his phone. 

Eddie cleared his throat, getting almost everyone’s attention, “I’m going to check on Freddie.” He turned to leave the parlor but was then spoken to. 

“I’m gonna come with you Eds,” he turned to see Richie right behind him, now carrying his duffel. 

Eddie nodded before finally leaving the room, he began his small walk to the stairs. He looked up to see his son at the top, his hands stuffed in his pockets. 

“Freddie. Everything alright?” Eddie questions, slowly walking up the stairs.

“Yeah dad, if your definition of alright is ‘getting murdered by a clown’!” Freddie grits his teeth before crossing his arms.

Eddie turned around to Richie with wide, accusing eyes, “You two were alone for five minutes!”

Richie held up a hand in defense, “I didn’t do this, man!” 

Freddie caught his father’s attention once more, “Dad! You and your six friends from middle school are going on a goose chase for a creature that usually only goes after children. What if-?”

Eddie objected, cutting his son off, “Nope. I don’t want to hear it.” He got up the rest of the stairs before putting his hands on his hips.

“But I want to help!” Freddie huffed, frowning. He dropped his arms and began to pout. 

“No!” Eddie and Richie chorused. Eddie looked over to see that Richie had moved to stand next to him. He turned back as his son spoke once more. 

“I can be a valuable asset in killing the clown!”

Eddie went to speak once more but Richie put a hand on his shoulder before saying, “Fred, you need to listen to us, especially your dad. We know, you want to be helpful, but that’s not the way to do it. You understand that, right?”

“Yeah.” Freddie nodded begrudgingly before turning away from Richie and his father to roll his eyes. Eddie sees him do it but he lets it go. He smiles fondly before reaching out to grab Freddie in a tight hug. When they separate, Eddie pulls out Freddie’s iPod and headphones from his jeans pocket before handing it over.

“I don’t want you messing up your sleep schedule. Back to sleep young man,” Eddie said, pointing towards Richie’s room. 

“And take this with you, just throw it on the dresser,” Richie interjected, handing over his duffel. 

Freddie took it without question before muttering a goodnight and walking into Richie’s room, shutting the door behind him. The two men then make their way back downstairs, before they turn into the parlor, Eddie stops Richie.

“Hey, maybe the two of us could talk?” 

Richie went to speak but was cut off by a yell from Beverly, “Hey Trashmouth! You wanna join me for a cigarette?” 

Richie shook his head before calling back, “Sorry Miss Marsh, I quit! And be quiet! Freddie is upstairs trying to sleep!” 

“Man after my own heart,” Eddie muttered, moving toward the front door. Richie cleared his throat, giving himself a minute to load before following Eddie outside. They sat together on the steps closely. A few moments went by before Eddie spoke again, “Do you remember the arguments we got into when we were kids?” 

Richie furrowed his brows, “They’re a little fuzzy. Why?” 

“One of the first few things I remembered was you asking me about birth control pills.”

Richie let out a snort, he rubbed at his chin before speaking, “Yeah, I was pretty dumb, wasn’t I?”

Eddie frowns, “I don’t like the term dumb, because you are very intelligent academically, thick is a nicer term!”

“No, it’s not!” Richie tried his best to look offended, making Eddie giggle. 

“Well, fine, how dumb were you after you left Derry?” Eddie questioned, shifting his body more towards Richie. 

“I dropped out of college,” Richie nodded at Eddie’s agape expression. “Yeah man, I was in New York and I decided to join comedy because I was always making jokes about failing and what my professors looked like. What about you? You left Derry to become a family man?” 

Eddie shook his head, “Not at first, mom moved us when I was 17, she decided for me that I was gonna study business. She died when I was 22 but I was already too far. I met Myra two years later, we’ve been married 15 years.”

“And you couldn’t see that she was exactly like your mom?” Richie asked, crossing his arms over his chest. Eddie could have sworn he saw a pout on his friend.

Eddie shook his head. “No, I forgot everything that my mom did to me, I married Myra because it was-”

“Safe,” Richie finished, nodding in understanding. 

Eddie put on a small frown as he wrapped his arms around his torso, not having noticed how it grew colder. Richie seems to have seen this, moving to wrap an arm around Eddie’s shoulders, bringing the two men closer together. Eddie turns his head away to hide the small smile beginning to form.

"You know what's crazy man? Everything's changed but it hasn't, you know?" Richie questioned, making Eddie turn back to look at him. 

“Derry? It looks the fucking same to me,” Eddie chuckled. 

Richie rolled his eyes, “No man, the world, the technology. I remember as a kid that people would’ve shat themselves if they even got a new walkman or a new game was added to the arcade. Kids nowadays only care about how many followers they have on Twitter.”

Eddie giggled, “Do you even have twitter?”

Richie nodded, “And I have writers for it too. I don’t even know how to work it.” Eddie then went into a small fit of laughter, making a grin appear on Richie’s face. “Ed-” 

Richie was cut off by the door opening and Stan moving to stand just behind them, clasping them both on the shoulder. “Sorry to interrupt, but not sorry. Mike has good intentions but is making me feel like I’ll combust any second. He says we’re leaving in a few minutes.”

They both nod before moving to stand, Stan, backing up for them to take the stairs. 

“So, what were we talking about? How annoying you were?” Stan asks, shoving his hands in his pockets. Richie opens his mouth in offense while Eddie snickers. 

“You were pretty annoying Rich,” Eddie agrees, shrugging lazily.

“Hey, you don’t just get to act like you're not part of that,” Stan says, glaring at Eddie. 

“No, I was annoying for the right reasons, both of you can shove it.” Eddie jokes, moving back inside. Richie follows behind quickly while Stan rolls his eyes. When all three men make it back inside, they see the rest of the losers club standing at the bottom of the staircase like a cult. 

Bill spoke, “I know you have your kid so I don’t know how we’re preceding, do you want to bring Freddie with us?” 

Eddie shook his head, “No, I’m gonna let him sleep, I’ll give him directions of what to do if we’re not here when he wakes up.” 

“Here, these are all of our numbers if he needs to get ahold of one of us,” Mike smiled, holding out a piece of paper. Eddie took it with a thankful smile. 

“I’ll meet you guys outside,” Eddie nodded. 

As Eddie headed up the stairs, the other losers headed for the door, he locked eyes with Richie for a single moment, he was frowning. Eddie would be sure to ask what was wrong later. What he was wondering most was if everyone would leave this state in one piece or if he could keep a few things off his mind while trying to keep his boy safe.

* * *

Eddie huffed as he continued to walk, staring at the concrete underneath his feet. _ Stupid Mike, not letting us take a car, no, we just had to walk, like when we were kids! _ Eddie shook his head. Good thing he decided to get an inhaler, they still had his name at the pharmacy. _ Why did we always go outside as kids, there were other things, like books? Jesus, now he’s starting to sound like his mother. _He picked his head up as he heard Mike speak.

“We don’t have much time, the cycle will end soon, and once it does-”

“We’re fucked,” Ben finished for him. 

“More then fucked,” Stan said, turning to look over his shoulder. 

Everyone was then once again silent for the rest of the walkthrough town. As they went through the stream to get to the barrens. Eddie rolled up his pants for them not to get wet, Richie was right behind him, watching every step Eddie took. 

“You okay Eds?” Richie asked, trying not to sound worried. 

“This was a lot easier when we were kids!” Eddie snapped. He breathed heavily once on the other side, bending over and resting his hands on his knees. Then Richie was next to him, patting him on the back before steering him in the direction Mike and Ben started to go in. They stopped at a clearing in the woods.

“The barrens?” Bev questioned, beginning to look around. 

“This is where we came, after the rock fight,” Ben told, continuing to walk forward.

“The clubhouse!” Richie spoke in recognition. 

_ The clubhouse, the hammock? _Eddie let a grin break out on his face as he followed after Richie and Bev.

“You built that for us!” Bev said, pointing at Ben and sharing a smile with Richie. 

“Yeah! The hatch has got to be around here somewhere!” Richie insisted, walking forward. 

Eddie followed behind Richie quickly, “That’s right! I do remember that!”

Bill and Bev broke off once more. Eddie, Richie, and Stan began looking around for the hatch. 

“You know what, I actually think that the door was, more like, around-” Ben declared, beginning to stomp his foot on the hard ground. He then dropped, with the ground splitting and taking him whole. Everyone stared at the spot where he once was. Ben’s voice was then heard once more, “Found it! I’m okay! Come down!”

First, it was Stan, then Bev, then Richie, then Bill, then Eddie, then Mike. 

“Do you remember when Eddie broke Ben’s paddleball?” Mike laughed from beside Bill. 

“I didn’t break it- you know what, I never picked that ball up,” Eddie snickered, putting his hands on his hips. 

“Because you were scared that if you touched anything you would get some kind of disease!’ Richie said, rolling his eyes. 

Eddie narrowed his eyes as if he was going to glare at Richie before he turned and stalked over to where the ball had sat for nearly thirty years. He then crouched down and picked it up before blowing off the layer of dirt on it. The rest of the losers looked on in surprise. They then moved through the clubhouse to look at the things that were left behind. Eddie crouched down next to Bill and picked up one of Richie’s old comic books. Mike bent down to find a bat. Eddie turned to him and gave a sad smile. 

“How did we all not remember this was here?” he asked quietly. Mike just shook his head in response. 

A voice then came from the darkest corner of the clubhouse, “Hey losers!” Everybody became tense, getting closer to each other. The voice continued, “Time to float!” Ben fell back and Mike readied the bat to swing. Richie then jumped out of the shadows laughing. 

Bill hit his head as he stepped back, “Ah fuck Richie!” 

“Dude!” Eddie called with furrowed brows. 

Richie grinned as he stared at Eddie, “Remember he would say that shit and he would do that little dance?” He then began to swing his arms side to side as he made up a song. “Am I the only one that remembers this shit?” he asked, dropping his arms. 

“Are you gonna be like this the entire time we’re home?” Eddie questioned with a glare. 

Richie frowned, “Alright, just trying to add some levity to this shit, I’ll go fuck myself.” He turned, whistling as he went. 

Eddie got up to follow, “It smells so fucking terrible.”

“Hey guys, look!” Stan turned around with a container in hand, beaming. Richie came back over to stand near the ladder as he inspected what Stan held.

“F-F-For u-use of Losers Only,” Bill read aloud, perplexed. 

“Yeah! It’s our shower caps, so we wouldn’t get spiders stuck in our hair!” Stan said, continuing to smile brightly. He then ripped open the can, everyone tensed before he took one of the caps out to show them. “They’re still in perfect shape!” 

“That’s great Stan,” Mike said sincerely, putting the bat down. 

“I remember now, Richie and Eddie would never wear them,” Stan let out a small chuckle. All the Losers then turned to look at Richie and Eddie. Eddie noticed they were standing closer than they were before but he didn’t bother to move. “You guys were always on the same level, you pissed each other off but were content with it.” The other Losers nodded their heads in agreement. 

“Always fought about the hammock,” Ben laughed, standing up to put his hands on his hips. 

Stan smirked, Eddie furrowed his brows in a notice of this, wondering if Stan knew something that Eddie didn’t. Then again, it’s Stan, he probably knows a lot of things Eddie didn’t. 

Stan’s smirk then changed for him to giggle, “I remember you kicking him in the face a few times.” 

Eddie grinned back, “It was because he was being an asshole.” No actually, he wasn’t, Eddie just wanted his attention. 

“Hey fuck you man,” Richie said with a smile on his face, shoving him. 

“Fuck you,” Eddie replied, giving him a light slap to the face. 

Richie just stared at him with an expression of awe and amusement. Eddie could see Stan roll his eyes before he was putting the shower cap back into the container. 

“You two have not changed at all,” Mike mused, his smile soft. 

“Sad,” Bev snickers. 

Richie then moves to stand shoulder to shoulder with Eddie, “Alright Mike, what are we doing here?” 

“The ritual, to perform it, it needs a sacrifice,” Mike begins. 

“Sacrifice? I nominate Eddie,” Richie offered, pointing at him. 

“Wait, what?” Eddie questioned with worry. He quickly turned to look at Richie.

“Because you’re little, you’ll fit on a barbecue,” Richie motioned, trying to keep a deadpan look. 

“I’m 5’9, it’s like average height for most of the world,” Eddie defends himself, walking over to sit down next to Stanley and Bill. 

“It’s not that kind of s-s-sac-sacrifice, guys. Mike?” Bill speaks softly before looking over at the man in question.

“The past is buried, but you’re gonna have to dig it up piece by piece, and these pieces, these artifacts, that’s why we’re here. They are what your sacrifice is, this place is just to help give you an idea, jog your memory a bit,” Mike finished, nodding. 

“Well, I believe we just did that,” Eddie said with a tight smile. 

Mike nodded once more before they started to leave the clubhouse, Stan taking his shower caps with him. Ben was the last one up the ladder. Eddie watched fondly as Richie started ruffling his hair. He then quickly looked away to see Mike dusting himself off. 

“Okay Mike, what about these tokens,” Eddie asks, giving out a small shrug. 

“Yeah, I gotta be honest man, with all due respect, this is fucking stupid. Alright, why do we need tokens, alright, we already remember everything! Uh- saving Bev, defeating IT, I mean. We’re caught up!” Richie rambled with his hands.

“That’s not everything, we fought, but what happened after that? Before the house on Neibolt. Think,” Mike stood back, swaying a little. 

“We c-c-c-can’t remember, can we?” Bill asks. 

“See, there’s more to our story, what happened that summer, and those blank spaces, like pages torn out of a book, that’s what you need to find. We need to split up, you each need to find your artifact, alone,” Mike tells. Eddie looks over to see Richie with his eyes closed, shaking his head quickly. Mike continued, “And when you do, meet me at the library tonight.” 

“Well, I got to say statistically speaking, you look at survival scenarios, we’re gonna do much better as a group,” Eddie insisted, looking at Richie. They share a look before Richie nods his head. 

“Yeah, splitting up would be dumb man, we got to go together! Alright, we were together that summer, right?” Richie opined, Eddie points at him as if to say _listen to him_. 

“No,” Bill quickly cuts in, Richie and Eddie both turn to look at him. “Not that wh-wh-whole summer.”

Eddie furrows his brow once more as people begin to walk off, throwing out an _ I’ll see you later _or a _ bye for now_, until it’s just Richie and Eddie standing together in the clearing. Neither men move to leave which makes Eddie sigh in relief. He was going to finally be able to talk to Richie without any interruptions. Maybe they could be adults for once, talk about feelings, their plans if they survived, he knew Richie was being serious when he invited them to stay with him but Eddie still felt as if Richie was still closed off. 

“So, what’s up?” Eddie asks as normally as he can. 

The man shook his head, before pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, “We’re going to go together, right?” He hesitated, his eyes going back and forth from looking at Eddie and the ground. 

“Uh, yeah, of course, man,” Eddie nodded, crossing his arms. 

“Great. You got an inhaler at the pharmacy, right?” Richie turns around, walking back through the trees. Eddie runs to walk next to him. 

“Yeah, how did you-” 

“I carried a back-up one for you for 6 six years, remember?” he breathed, putting on a small smile. 

“I do actually,” Eddie finds himself saying. Richie’s smile widens. 

They maintain a comfortable silence as they walk back through the barrens to town. Eddie turns to look at Richie every few moments to study him. As if Richie's body language will give Eddie the answers to all of his burning questions. Eddie can’t help but notice the way Richie slouches when he walks or the way he rubs a palm onto his jeans. Eddie can’t decipher what they mean. He used to be able to. He wants to be able to. 

When they finally make it to the pharmacy, Richie ushers for Eddie to go in. 

"You're not coming?" 

Richie shakes his head, "Mr. Keene always gave me the creeps." He points to someone inside. Eddie follows his line of sight to see an elderly man behind the pharmaceutical counter, he was balding and had on a pair of wired glasses. 

"Holy shit! He's still alive!" Eddie exclaimed, turning back to stare at Richie with wide eyes.

Richie snorted, "Go Eds, I'll wait out here for you." He gave Eddie a little push. 

"Alright man," he muttered, finally opening the door and stepping inside. 

As Eddie walked up to the counter, he looked over to another aisle to see a man with a ponytail, he raised an eyebrow in curiosity before tearing his eyes away. He spotted Keene sniffing something in the back. Eddie furrowed his brows as Keene turned around to look at him. 

“Can I help you?” the elder man asked, beginning to walk towards Eddie. 

“Yeah, I called in, I had a prescription called in for Kaspbrak-”

“Kaspbrak?” 

Eddie nodded, “It’s an inhaler.” He watched as the older man looked over and picked up a bag. 

“Eddie Kaspbrak?” 

Eddie nodded once more, “Mmh hmm, that’s me.”

“I remember you,” Mr Keene starts, placing the bag down with shaky hands. Eddie smiled politely. “How’s your mom?” He questions with a smirk. 

“Well she died a few years ago, it was very sad, it was from liver cancer-” 

Mr. Keene cut Eddie off with a question, “What’s that?” He pointed at something on Eddie’s face. 

“What’s what?” Eddie responded with furrowed brows. 

“That!” Mr. Keene said, poking at Eddie’s cheek. 

The older man started squeezing at Eddie’s face. Eddie tried to bat his hand away, “Alright, okay, it’s not gonna pop, it’s a mole,” Eddie says. 

“It might not be cancer.”

“Cancer?” Eddie’s eyes widened at the word.

“But it might be.” Mr. Keene patted at Eddie’s face. “You just stay here, I’ll get ya something.”

“Okay?” Eddie looks down at the counter as Mr. Keene begins to walk away.

He looks at the bag in hand that contained his inhaler. He carefully opened it before taking the inhaler out and putting it into his jacket pocket. He then heard a creaking of a door opening. He looked up to see the basement door opening by itself. He backs up quickly and narrows his eyes as a display of images starts making its way into his head. 

_ “Eddie! Eddie-bear!” _

_ The blood bags. _

_ The curtain. _

_ His mother. _

_ The leper. _

_ He wasn’t able to save his mother from the leper. _


End file.
